


A Time To Celebrate

by Boy_On_Strings



Series: String Theory [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Multi, Thanksgiving
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-14
Updated: 2012-05-14
Packaged: 2017-11-05 09:28:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/404863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Boy_On_Strings/pseuds/Boy_On_Strings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The pack spends its first big holiday together after their trip to the beach.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Time To Celebrate

* * *

Stiles darted around the kitchen checking on everything in a frantic rush. The turkey had a few more minutes, the stuffing was fluffing up, and the cranberry sauce looked delicious. The smell of pumpkin pie had taken over the kitchen, practically obliterating every other wonderful smell.

"Stiles, honey, I wish you would let me help you more," Melissa McCall said.

Scott gently pulled his fussing mother away from Stiles's workspace. "It's best to just let him do his thing, mom. I almost lost a finger trying to help him once."

Stiles scoffed as he stirred the corn, the mashed potatoes, and the green beans in turns. "You almost lost a finger because you tried to steal some of the apple pie before it had finished rising."

"My bad, Martha Stewart," Scott said, "I didn't realize it was breaking pie law."

A cheer went up from the McCall house's living room. Jackson and Stiles's father encouraged their favorite football team and heckled their opponents in voices that no one would consider suitable for use inside. Stiles heard the tell tale clatter of dishes in the dining room and could only hope that Lydia and Allison were almost finished setting the table.

"Scott, leave Stiles alone. He's busy, go watch TV," Derek commanded.

Stiles grinned at Scott's mom when her eyebrows nearly shot off her head at how quickly Scott did what Derek told him. "You're going to have to tell me how to do that," she said.

"It's all in the diaphragm." Stiles rubbed his stomach, vaguely in the place he thought the diaphragm was supposed to be. Anatomy, when you weren't talking about your significant other, was pretty boring.

She shook her head in disbelief. "Stiles, at least let me pour you a glass of apple cider, you're going to sweat to death before you finish." Mother McCall seemed intent to pitch in, not content to let Stiles completely overtake her kitchen.

Stiles nodded and kept fussing over the stove. Derek came up to stand beside him and stir some of the things he couldn't get to. It was times like this where Stiles wished he had more hands. He glanced over at Derek and noted the way his dark jeans hugged his ass. He grinned wickedly and thought of other times it would be awesome to have more hands.

"Focus on the food," Derek grunted. "I can smell what you're thinking over the roasting turkey."

Stiles grumbled about werewolf senses and went back to preparing the food. He wanted everything to be perfect. This was their first big holiday as a pack, and he wanted everyone to remember it fondly. If it went over well maybe they'd spend all their holidays together like a regular family.

"We're all done Stiles," Allison said as she made her way into the kitchen. Lydia was right on her heels. The two girls didn't waste any time, they knew the boys weren't going to be very much help.

"Is anything ready to go out on the table?" Lydia asked as she inspected the array of food already on the counter. Stiles gestured towards the counter top. When Lydia sighed he gestured again. "Use your words, Stiles; god knows you have enough of them."

"All that stuff is ready, the bread, the salad, the dressing," Stiles said imperiously and ignored the snicker that came out of Derek's mouth. He made last minute temperature checks of the food, confirmed they hadn't lost any of their moisture, and then drank the entire glass of apple cider that Melissa forced into his hand in one long throat working gulp. "Sooooo awesome."

He noticed Derek staring at his neck, probably imagining the way the muscles had worked and strained to swallow all the cider. He chuckled when Derek noticed he was being watched. Apparently Stiles wasn't the only one with more than food on his mind.

A new cheer went up, this time with Scott's voice adding to the Sheriff's and Jackson's. Melissa raised her arms as if to say 'what can you do?' and then looked towards the living room. "Derek, would you mind getting the boys into the dining room?"

Derek smiled at her and when he did, Stiles knew that he had won her over. "I can easily get the boys, but I don't think anyone can tell the Sheriff what to do except for him," Derek said as he pointed at Stiles.

"Tell him he can have one small piece of pie if he goes right now."

Melissa grinned and shook her head. "You're delightfully wicked, Stiles," she said, "I didn't think he was allowed to have any pie though."

"I know. That's why he isn't getting any. I got some yogurt for him; the whole pie thing is just a ruse." Stiles wasn't proud of the misdirection, but if lying to his father kept him alive longer then he'd do it without hesitation.

Derek shook his head and Melissa patted him on the back, "You're a terrible person sometimes."

"People keep saying that. I have no idea why." Stiles threw his hands up in exasperation. He wasn't a terrible person, sometimes people just had to do things even if they didn't want to. It was for the greater good, he was practically a superhero.

Derek shrugged and headed toward the living room. "You know exactly why." He gone before Stiles could defend himself.

It took Stiles, Derek, Melissa, Lydia, and Allison to get everything on the table and everyone in their seats. The Sheriff and Jackson looked back occasionally towards the living room wistfully. Scott knew better with Allison sitting right next to him. He reached for a roll and his mother smacked his hand. He pouted at her and Allison patted his other arm consolingly.

Stiles grinned at everyone gathered around the table. Jackson's parents were out of town on business. Allison's were off on some sort of hunter related work, and Lydia had decided she'd rather not have her parents fight over who she was spending the holiday with so she opted to come to the dinner party Stiles had arranged between his and Scott's families.

The Sheriff did the honors of cutting the turkey, piling the meat high on a large plate. Allison laughed at the looks on Derek, Jackson, and Scott's faces as they all sniffed at it, tongues practically lolling out of their mouths as they panted and watched the steam rise.

"I'm so glad I'm not sitting between one of them and the meat," Lydia said. She unrolled her silverware and placed the napkin in her laugh. "This blouse was never meant to withstand a gravy spray from overzealous men eating with no manners."

Melissa laughed and nodded at Lydia. "I'm afraid I'm going to lose a finger when this feeding frenzy starts."

"Can we eat now, my stomach is about to burst out of my chest to get at this food." Scott's fingers drummed on the table in anticipation. He licked his lips, completely oblivious to his mother's rueful smile.

Stiles's grin was infectious and everyone who looked at him started to smile as well. His leg started to bounce up and down and Derek put a hand over top of it to keep it still. Stiles glanced at his father but the Sheriff just shook his head and smiled. They hadn't had "the talk", but Stiles was pretty sure that his father knew about him and Derek. Especially when he said that Derek would be at the dinner.

"Well," Melissa said tapping her glass of water with her fork, "I think that since Stiles made the biggest portion of the food that he should make a toast."

Stiles froze with his new glass of apple cider a few inches from his face. Everyone blinked at him; it was rare that he was perfectly still like that. Scott made a worried noise and almost stood up before the Sheriff's voice spoke into the silence, "We've never really done anything like that since his mother passed away."

Derek's hand tightened on Stiles's leg, prompting him to start blinking again. He looked over into Derek's concerned eyes. "I-its fine," Stiles said, "We used to have a tradition where we would each say what it was that we were thankful for. I always thought everyone's families did that."

"We don't have to if you don't want to," Scott said, "we can just all eat the food." It wasn't clear if Scott's suggestion was to spare Stiles the possible pain of memories, or if it was just that he was really hungry.

Melissa wailed him upside the head. Stiles couldn't but laugh as Scott rubbed the side of his head and frowned at his mother. Everyone let out a collective breath at the sound.

"I… I'd like it if we all did that," Stiles said, his voice was very small. The pack had in a lot of ways filled a void that his mother's passing had left in his life, but no matter how hard they tried, he was always going to feel that loss. "It'll be like she's here with us."

Stiles felt someone's feet brush up against his from across the table. Allison was sitting across from him, gazing at him with her gentle eyes; she had a soft smile on her face. "She is here with us."

Stiles scrubbed one hand across his eyes. Derek took hold of his other hand under the table. "Okay, dad, you start. We'll go around the table." It was silly, but Stiles was happy people seemed willing to go with it.

The Sheriff nodded and set his glass down. Stiles watched as he looked around at each person at the circular table. It had been a long time since he'd been at a Thanksgiving dinner with more than two people, let alone eight. He smiled; Stiles could tell that his father had missed having more family.

"Well," he said after clearing his throat, "I'm thankfully that everyone here is safe and alive. I'm also thankful Stiles has so many new friends." He paused and looked at Derek for a few moments, "and that he finally seems genuinely happy, instead of running around with his game face on all the time."

Stiles groaned as everyone laughed or smiled at him.  _'Way to embarrass me dad,"_ he thought. He wasn't going to admit that it made him happy. He scrubbed at his eyes again when Derek squeezed his hand. More so than any other person, his father seemed to know when he was just acting like everything was okay.

The Sheriff looked left toward Melissa. She looked at Scott then wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into a hug; he sighed but let her do it. "I'm thankful that Scott here didn't fail this year, I'm sure I know who all to thank for that. It's been a rough year for him, and he did the best he could with the help of all of you." She winked at Allison over Scott's head. "I'm also thankful that he found such a wonderful young woman."

"Stop you're going to make me cry," Allison said as she put her hands over her mouth.

"Me too, from embarrassment," Scott added moments before his mother landed another forceful blow to his head. He scowled at her.

"Your turn," Melissa said in a voice that was a clear warning that she wouldn't tolerate him making light of the situation.

Scott sighed and looked at Allison, then his mother, and finally across the table at Stiles. "I guess I'm glad I have the best friend in the world, the best girlfriend in the world, and the best mom in the world." He smiled at his mom, but ruined his speech by adding, "Who has clearly been lifting weights recently."

Melissa looked like she was winding up for a right cross when Scott leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. She blinked at him for a moment and then let her hand drop back to the table.

"I'm also thankful that I've met a lot of new people, people that mean more to me than I thought possible." Scott's eyes skittered over Derek, and Lydia, but lingered on Jackson for a few moments longer.

Allison put her hand over the one Scott had resting on the table. "I'm thankful that Scott's mom and Stiles's dad agreed to let us all have dinner together. I'm thankful that I met all of you this past year. This is the first place I've moved to in a long time where I felt like I could actually have a life." She nibbled her lower lip, reached out and grasped Lydia's hand. I'm thankful that I finally have a best friend, especially one who knows which clothes I look best in."

Lydia's eyes got wide. She clearly hadn't been expecting anything. Stiles grinned at her across the table. She ignored him; he loved it when she did that. That's how he knew she cared. They had an odd relationship, but he was happy with it.

"Well, first off, I'm thankful that tomorrow I will be the proud owner of many new pairs of shoes," she paused as if for dramatic effect, "I'm also thankful that Stiles has selflessly agreed to help carry my bags."

Stiles looked into her eyes from across the table and he knew what she meant, they all probably did. He grinned and she sniffed haughtily and took a drink from her glass of water then looked at her reflection in it as though she was trying to fix her makeup. Stiles knew that she was making sure that no one saw the wetness in her eyes. He'd never tell anyone that he had. Lydia ignored him studiously and turned to Jackson and gestured for him to start.

"I'm…" Jackson stopped and looked down at his plate, "I'm thankful that someone made me a home cooked meal, that someone invited me in the first place." His eyes darted over towards Scott. He grunted and looked back towards the living room, "and I'm thankful that my team is kicking butt."

"Boys are stupid," Allison said. She leaned around Lydia and punched Jackson in the shoulder.

He over at her then around at each person at the table as he mumbled under his breath, "I'm thankful to be a part of this family."

Stiles gave Jackson a thumbs-up then made a shocked face when Jackson flipped him off. "Go, Hale, your turn," Jackson growled.

Derek looked over at Stiles. Stiles watched him back, tried to break free of his green eyes and couldn't. Derek squeezed his hand under the table. No one said anything in the silence as the two of them stared at each other. Finally, he said, "I'm thankful that we're all here right now, together." Derek turned to regard the Sheriff. They seemed to be assessing each other, finally Stiles's dad nodded. Derek looked back at Stiles then leaned over and kissed him lightly on the cheek. "I'm thankful for everything I have." Derek said and pulled Stiles's hand up and set it on the table, still clasping it firmly.

Stiles waited for his face to change back to its normal color. Everyone stared at him. He looked down at the hand Derek was holding. He opened his mouth and then closed it again, scrubbed at his eyes with the back of his hand again. Stiles was great at talking, everyone knew that. The fact that he didn't say anything spoke volumes all on its own.

"Well," the Sheriff said as he smiled at his son, "let's dig in."

Stiles smiled at his father. Everyone piled their plates full of food. He watched them talk, laugh, and joke. They didn't know it, but they were going to play Pictionary and Charades once dinner was over. He couldn't believe his father had just accepted Derek with no shotgun threats; maybe he'd earned himself a piece of pie. Stiles would wrestle him to the floor if he tried to eat any ice cream though.


End file.
